The American University men’s basketball team dropped a close contest at Mount St. Mary’s, 49-42, despite holding a three-point advantage at the half. Troy Brewer posted a team-high 15 points in his first game back after being out due to an injury and Tony Wroblicky recorded a career-high 10 points.
Brewer hit three three-pointers as Wroblicky went 5-of-8 from the field and also notched a team-high six rebounds. Charles Hinkle had seven points and five rebounds for the Eagles. Daniel Munoz posted a team-high three assists with five points.
Wroblicky hit two straight jumpers and Brewer added a three before Mount St. Mary’s (2-10) went on a 6-0 run to take the four-point lead early in the game, 11-7. Brewer hit a jump floater and then drained a three on the subsequent possession to put the Eagles back up by one and force the Mountaineers to take the timeout with 6:20 to play, 12-11. Simon McCormack added a lay-up before Josh Castellanos answered with a three of his own to tie it once again at 14.
Munoz converted on a three-point play after being fouled under the basket, but Danny Thompson would hit a pull-up jumper at the foul line to bring it within one, 17-16, with 3:17 remaining in the first. Brewer hit a pair of free throws and Munoz would add a lay-up for the five-point advantage, but Castellanos would have an answer once again to cut American’s lead to three at the end of the first half, 21-18.
American (8-6) shot 36.4 percent from the field and were a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. Brewer had a team-high 10 points in the first as Munoz added five. The Mountaineers were 28.6 percent from the field as Castellanos posted seven points to lead the team.
Mount St. Mary’s tied it early with a three from Julian Norfleet just over a minute into the second half before Wroblicky was able to answer with a bucket to put the Eagles back up by two, 23-21. Hinkle would pace the Eagles with a three as the team went on a 7-2 run before a jumper from Barber would cut it to a one-point game once again with 10:15 left, 31-30.
The Eagles would go up by as many as four after a Brewer three, but a Raven Barber jumper and pair of free throws from Castellanos tied it at 38 all with 4:25 left to play. Mount St. Mary’s would take a 42-41 lead off a Xavier Owens tip-in on a Castellanos miss from three-point range with 1:39 remaining. Hinkle was able to tie it at 42 after going 1-of-2 from the line but American wasn’t able to hold on as Castellanos was able to knock down 5-of-6 free throws for the 49-42 win.
Castellanos had 15 points, with eight coming from the line, to lead the Moutaineers as the team shot 36.5 percent from the field and 72.7 percent from the foul line. Thompson posted a game-high 11 boards. American was 33.3 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from the line for the game.
American will conclude its five-game road trip at Brown on January 2 at 1 p.m. to begin the new year. The Eagles will return to Bender Arena on January 7 when they take on Colgate to open Patriot League play.
Leave a Reply